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Battle of Toth
Background Bard, aware of his untenable position, quickly retreated back west across the Noan, and headed south towards the city of Toth, the largest in Brun. There he met the forces of the local Craws under Lord Caeseth, and was soon joined by the Ironhands under Wulroth and the rest of the Gileads under his uncle, Lord Protector Snowfire. Bard wished to amass more troops from the three other clans, the Fragas, the Blackdaws, and especially the Brownbacks. However, the Fragas were too far away, the Blackdaws wished to keep their troops to defend their borders, and the Brownbacks were led by Lord Cravis, who had his own list of issues with the situation. Cravis's uncle, Lorax Juntlix, had been one of Brack Gilead's first and greatest supporters, and the Brownbacks had suffered greatly while forming the new kingdom. Lorax Juntlix died during the war of independence, and Brack had to make some significant promises to Cravis in order to keep him in line. One of his promises was the offer to make a Brownback the Lord Protector during his rule; a promise he could no longer fulfill due to his untimely death. Bard was a young man and not nearly as concerned with the tenuous ties binding the clans together, especially when there was a foreign invasion at their doorstep. Cravis did not see things this way. He saw this as yet another Gilead war where thousands more of his clansmen would needlessly die. So, he elected to keep his troops home, and sent a message to the prince: "...Unfortunately, the paths to the battlefront are blocked with carrion, perhaps from the previous incursions to get us here. Once the corpses rot and decay, the Brownbacks will join the Gileads once more." So, with that, Bard had only half of the troops that he would have liked to, about 16,000 men. He divided it into four parts: the center, commanded by himself; the right wing under Wulroth, a steely-eyed veteran of many past conflicts and a trusted general of his father; the left wing under Snowfire, his father's brother and right-hand man; and the reserve under Caesth, who was not much of a warrior but knew the terrain of the Craw's land. Bard's main desire was to take the fight to his enemy, but recognized it was foolhardy to invade an enemy that outnumbered him 2:1. King Slovak Auchmes was perfectly inclined to take the initiative and invade Brun, as he was wont to do. Slovak divided his army of 30,000 into two halves under Prince Trenchon and General Gordon Onock. Trenchon was young and brash, and nothing more than a competent soldier. Onock on the other hand was perhaps the best commander Tryr had, a man who somehow had diligently worked his way up through the ranks in Tryr's extremely hierarchical society. Onock was highly experienced and unshakable, though he was used to being commanded by incompetents. Both Onock and Slovak had fought the Brunians before under Slovak's father, Meriadoc, and Onock had no particular desire to fight them again. Slovak, however, felt like he had something to prove, to restore his father's honor by defeating his old foes. However, while he was outwardly confident and belligerent, he was secretly harboring feelings of deep-seated fear, well-informed he was of the vicious Draconic empire long ago. Yet, the king wished to play soldier and pushed those fears aside. His plan was not a poor one. Trenchon's force was to go south and distract the main Brunian force near Toth, while Onock's was to go north, muscle their way past any possible resistance and seize Teraholm, the capital of Brun. With Bard's base of power gone, his horde of mindless dragonborn would surely abandon him and return to the wastes from whence they came. He gave his son command of the majority of their heavy cavalry and knights, as well as the famed Hydra's Battalion mercenary group under Shannon Escott. Escott was fairly well known for his service under Rangos in their campaigns against the Bandit kings five years previous, and he was a very capable warrior. Onock cautioned the king on dividing his forces as his father had infamously done twenty years previously, but Slovak dismissed the his concerns, and, perhaps believing the Onock to be insulting his father, asked the general if he had given his father such sage advice before he was defeated. Slovak himself set up his headquarters at the small Dragonborn village of Gumtren on the banks of the western branch of the Noan River. He wished to be close by to personally give orders to both wings at once, much to the quiet annoyance of General Onock. As such, the marching was slow, with repeated starting and stopping as Slovak wished to maneuver his forces into position. Escott was made nervous by the extremely heavy vegetation, and he asked the prince if he might send out parties of scouts to eye the land ahead. The prince agreed. Bard, utilizing the Craw's superior knowledge of the terrain, recognized almost immediately what Slovak was pulling. The Tryrians had even done the courtesy of splitting their forces to make themselves easier to annihilate. He quickly marched his army towards Trenchon's, positioning himself on the left flank of the Tryrian army. Upon hearing reports of Brunian troops amassing, Trenchon was delighted, as he was performing his part of the plan excellently. He sent several units of cavalry into the underbrush next to the road he was leading to engage the enemy, which soon got tangled up and disorganized. Bard could not believe his immense luck, and ordered a fullscale assault all along the prince's line near noontime. Whatever advantage the Tryrian forces might have had with their superior numbers was utterly nullified by Brun's sudden and overwhelming attack. Thousands of screaming scaled warriors filled the previously empty woods. Hastily assembled flaming logs paved a burning path down the hillsides, crashing into the Tryrian ranks. Their heavy cavalry was left with no room to maneuver in the thick shrubs, bushes, and trees of the forest, just as Escott had predicted. He attempted to shake his men out into a defensive position, but he roared himself hoarse to no avail; the complete and utter chaos of this disaster rendered any remaining semblance of order to disintegrate. The superior physicality and size of the dragonborn overpowered any defense the Tryrians could give. Trenchon's forces were launched into utter chaos, and were driven from the field, with Bard in hot pursuit. Slovak heard of the disaster in mid-afternoon, and while he was afraid, he thought of his son and rode to the field. Broken elements of Trenchon's army limped past the king, and he was able to rally some of them to form a rearguard. Bard's forces were flush with victory and quite disorganized, and when their lead elements under Wulroth arrived at Slovak's rearguard, he assumed he could brush them aside with and finish off the rest of their army. The rearguard however consisted of a good number of dismounted knights and mercenaries, and beat back the motley assault. A decisive countercharge ordered by Slovak drove away the rest of the dragonborn, and Wulroth was badly wounded in his torso. The army was saved for now. Gathering up what men were left, the Tryrian forces retreated back to Gumtren, where Slovak was relieved to find his son alive and well. Over a third of the 15,000 men were gone, with many more scattered across the countryside. Slovak, filled with anxiety, sent two conflicting orders to Onock to continue on while also defending Tryr itself. When Onock's response questioned if he wished him to continue his campaign, Slovak quickly lost his nerve and ordered a full-scale retreat back across the Noan. He set up camp on the eastern bank, while Bard set up camp on the west. Both armies settled in for winter. Opposing Forces [[Brun order of battle Battle of Toth|Brun order of battle]] [[Tryr order of battle Battle of Toth|Tryr order of battle]] Battle Though the Hydra's Battalion were rough and tumble fighters, these Dragonborn warriors were masters of chaos. Their advantage in size, number, and muscle allowed them to inflict terrible casualties upon the Aftermath